Interactive home telehealth and burns: A pilot study

The objective of this study is to review our experience incorporating Interactive Home Telehealth (IHT) visits into follow-up burn care.

A retrospective review of all burn patients participating in IHT encounters over the course of 15 months was performed. Connections were established through secure video conferencing and call-routing software. Patients connected with a personal computer or tablet and providers connected with a desktop computer with a high-definition web camera. In some cases, high-definition digital images were emailed to the provider prior to the virtual consultation. For each patient, the following was collected: (1) patient and injury demographics (diagnosis, prognosis, and clinical management), (2) total number of encounters, (3) service for each encounter (burn, psychiatry, and rehabilitation), (4) length of visit, including travel distance and time saved and, (5) complications, including re-admissions and connectivity issues.

52 virtual encounters were performed with 31 patients during the first year of the pilot project from March 2015 to June 2016. Mean age of the participant was 44 years (range 18-83 years). Mean total burn surface area of the participant was 12% (range 1-80%). Average roundtrip travel distance saved was 188 miles (range 4-822 miles). Average round trip travel time saved was 201min (range 20-564min). There were no unplanned re-admissions and no complications. Five connectivity issues were reported, none of which prevented completion of the visit.

Interactive Home Telehealth is a safe and feasible modality for delivering follow-up care to burn patients. Burn care providers benefit from the potential to improve outpatient clinic utilization. Patients benefit from improved access to multiple members of their specialized burn care team, as well as cost-reductions for patient travel expenses. Future studies are needed to ensure patient and provider satisfaction and to further validate the significance, cost-effectiveness and safety.